


Compassion

by orphan_account



Series: Belly Of The Beast [3]
Category: Gears of War (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Non-Romantic Slash, Possibly OOC, Side Story, Some Swearing, Two Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-21 10:57:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10683882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: This is a side fic to the main story and doesn't relate to events of the main story. It is more insight into the two main characters, their different opinions on one of the main antagonists, General RAAM, and teasing the reader with a sliver of their past and why they have a beef with RAAM.After a few months with the COG, the two human outsiders are caught in a Locust raid led by General RAAM. One of them is found by the Locust and attacked but fast thinking and bad hammer of dawn strikes save them. They stop their companion from doing something they would regret and earn the General's respect and his favour.





	1. Mercy

His back cracked, singing a symphony of pops and crackles as bumpy skin stretched across bulging muscles. Beady eyes opened to the darkness, not affected by the lack of light. Without his intimidating but unique armour, his pale, rocky topography blended in with the rest of his brethren, mountain men with a bad attitude.

" _Rise_..." the word slithered out in a spine chilling rasp, directed to three silent bumps scattered on raised daises.

***

Harper giggled, her voice soft and soothing.

"Come on Baird! You can run faster than that!"

The female taunted playfully, skipping ahead of the older Gear, even though she was weighed down by recently acquired armour. It hugged her slender frame, long gauntlets protecting her small forearms and specially shaped plates encased her feminine chest. Her boots were smaller and her leg armour thinner than that of the armour Baird wore.

Harper wasn't used to the extra weight still, and her attention was on Baird, meaning she lost track of her surroundings.

"Harper!"

Strained, distinctive and male, the warning call came too late. The female's ankle dived into a crack in the ground, jerking her speeding frame to the floor with vindictive intent. Her nose became acquainted with dust, snapping under the social pressure and blood cascaded from the injured bump.

"Ah, fuck!"

Her body collided with the ground with a resounding clang. The owner of that caution, a slim but strong male human, sprinted his way from where Cole and Dom had been teaching him some tricks with grenades. He skidded the last few feet, unsettling the dirt with his movement.

"Harper, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Just hurt and bleeding."

She groaned, wrestling her foot free from the crack, massaging her ankle. It would ache for a few days, but didn't feel broken. Her nose was a different story, angry with pain and spitting out blood.

"Tip your head forward."

Harper did as told, wincing when cloth was pressed around her painful nose. Dakota left her to hold it, asking for some water and another cloth. His supplies were brought to him, and the male cleaned his friend's face up for her. Fortunately, the bleeding stopped not long after.

***

Night befell the planet of Sera and tucked it securely in its dark grasp, a web of murk and prime Locust time.

Said creatures marched around the base of the COG, having staked out their hideout for the past few days, fishing for weak spots and defenses. Most of the outside was mapped out in a behemoth's clever mind, but the inside was a mystery to him. However, he had spied the two troublesome sapiens who, with the advice of that older - now deceased - female, had thwarted any attempt to catch them in the past. This very night, the two would be in his grasp and the grub could end them as he wished.

Finally. After all these years of hunting.

***

Dakota stripped off the armour, discarding it haphazardly and happily. That thing got hot, and stank. One little whiff told him that he wasn't much better. Shower it was.

He hummed at the warm water. It felt amazing on his overworked skin, dropping from his body in tiny particles. The male didn't take long, washing away the grime before thoroughly drying himself off. Who knew when the Locust would strike, especially as there had not been a raid in the past few months?

The male shared his room with Dom, and often ended up 'borrowing' his clothes, much to the older man's displeasure. It was most often his favourite shirts too!

After clothing himself in his own clothes, the teenager sat on his plump bed. He still marvelled over how amazing these beds felt, wonderful and warm. However, he kinda missed the minimalism of his cave home and respected the lesson it taught. Never take things for granted.

A twinge in his leg reminded him of Harper's fall that day. Her ankle had swollen slightly but she could still prance around like a madman. Nothing stopped her. But it was not her physical state which worried the male. It was her mental. Harper wanted to kill RAAM. She wanted revenge. Dakota did not want to kill the General if he didn't have to, even if it would cost him his life. After the last time, one would think he would pull the trigger without a second thought. He could not.

" **Boom**!"

The deep voice of a Boomer rocked his concentration and the boy only had enough time to dive away from the wall, snagging his weapons and some of his armour, before solid brick became choking dust.

The blast knocked the human to the ground, but did no serious damage due to his quick thinking of escaping the blast radius.

" _Destroy_ ," the shuddering rasp caused a waterfall of shivers to crawl up Dakota's spine. Twisting his body to gaze out of the hole in his wall, fear jolted across his face as his green eyes locked with the beady golden ones of the imposing Locust casually stepping through the destruction of the wall.

"RAAM!" He gasped, stumbling to his feet as fast as he could, reloading the assault rifle in his hands.

" _Sapien_."

Golden orbs targeted Dakota as they narrowed ever so slightly beneath heavy, hairless eyebrows. One of the eyebrows sloped lower than the other, giving the beast a lopsided face. A vicious set of spiked teeth curved over his lips, indication of a significant underbite and two punctures were situated above these teeth, his flat nostrils. These holes flared as the Locust silently drew in the scent of its prey. A prey it had attempted for years to eradicate.

Now was the time.

He became a statue, shifting his bulging arm to defend his face as the human let fly Lancer ammunition, most likely to distract the mammoth grub as he planned a way of escape.

Both males were aware of the firefight raging outside the building but only the Locust General was aware of the approaching insect. It's scent was familiar.

"Dakota!"

The male paused in his shooting to look in the direction of the voice, spotting the tiny female human decked out in her armour. Her feet pattered against the floor, weapons clinking with each jerky step. A grenediar elite and two theron guards roadie ran into the room their General remained in, the grenediar using a Hammerburst scavenged from one of its fallen brothers to force the two humans into cover.

"Harper, run and don't look back. If I die, so be it."

"I'm not leaving you! That bastard needs to die!"

"Petty revenge won't bring her back, Harper. It will only get us both killed."

Leaning out of cover, he sprayed bullets, pushing the three approaching Locust back. The General seemed to be waiting for something. Probably for no more bullets to be shot, for the guns to be dry.

This wasn't the best situation, the two were outnumbered - the General himself easily outnumbered the two teens - and Harper was concerned about avenging a death from years ago rather than her own safety. Dakota was glad he didn't harbour such viscous thoughts to dampen his judgement.

"Harper!"

He barked, backing up to share her cover.

"Go! Now, before they get too close."

She went to refuse but the sound of a hammer of dawn strike shocked them both. It wasn't far from their spot. The male reiterated his order for the girl to go, providing covering fire to give her free access to more cover.

Reluctantly, she obeyed. Her mind and body fought with each other, the body seeing that it was for her survival, the mind hot and laced with the overwhelming urge to pull the trigger and penetrate that ugly mug with shiny pellets of pain and death.

Her legs swung rapidly, creating momentum and speeding her small body down winding corridors as she raced for an escape. Harper found one and leaped through it.

***

Of course, the only other way they could have gotten to him was if his gun jammed. Not good.

The stock of the Hammerburst struck the human's cheek, rocking his sense of balance and co-ordination. Sweaty hands abandoned the damaged Lancer in exchange for protecting his vital head and neck from the fall by catching his weight on his arms.

Dakota grunted with the sudden stop, gaining some control back in the nick of time. He dropped to a roll, a booted foot scraping his unprotected side. A close call, he thought, clambering to his knees, and then his feet. The grenediar growled, stomping forward to take another bat at the boy. Knowing he had to not get hit again, he dodged the attack and kicked the Locust in the knee, temporarily knocking the grub to the ground.

Escaping into a side door, Dakota realised that this may be his death. All he could hope for was that Harper was taken care of, loved, cherished. Happy.

A quake of vibration shivered up his foundations, breaking the stance he had created, thinking it was stable. His knees smacked the floor, skin peeling off a little.

"Ow..."

He groaned, stumbling to his feet again. The human heard no harsh sounds to signify the presence of any Locust. A crash outside the door made him jump back, slipping onto his backside with a groan.

When no other sounds disturbed the eerie atmosphere, Dakota burst through the door. He hadn't checked to see if anything was in front of it and so tripped over a trunk of a leg. His breath whooshed from his lungs, wrenched from the suction created by his diaphragm.

Shifting his legs, the male spun around, freezing.

He'd tripped over RAAM's leg. Poking it, he got no movement.

"RAAM?..."

" _Useless_..." The Locust hissed, shoving himself up and ragging a jagged chainsaw attachment from his upper thigh. How in the world did it get past his armour?

He quickly looked around, seeing carnage and scorched rubble.

"A hammer of dawn strike... It must have thrown you onto my Lancer and your weight combined with the force must have managed to pierce your armour. It could have been in a weak spot..."

The Locust would need his wound cleaning up and bandaging to stop infection.

"I'm off to go and get s-"

His airway was squashed as gigantic fingers clasped like a vice around his throat, choking the male as he flopped like a fish in an attempt to lessen the pressure around his trachea.

" _Die ground walker._ "

"I... can help... you w... with that... wound..."

"Hey! Get off him you ugly mug!"

Harper cried, racing forward with a loaded Lancer.

"Harper...! No!..."

The hand released him, allowing the male to struggle to his feet and stand in the way of Harper.

"Move, Dakota!"

He sighed, shaking his head.

"Killing is not the way to do this, Harper. Let it go."

"He has almost killed you on many occasions and killed her!"

Her. She couldn't say her name. Hypocrite. Neither could Dakota. He begged Harper to leave and go.

She eventually complied, screaming in frustration and shooting the destruction around her in a fit of anger, stomping from the Locust and the human.

The human turned to face the grub, who's face and eyes held a curious and intelligent gleam. It's golden eyes hooked onto the male's face and ears memorized his voice.

RAAM uncharacteristically allowed the boy to touch his rocky hide, washing dark red blood before it coagulated and crusted. He observed the human's actions up close, felt his tiny hands faintly pat away the fluid and caress the bandage onto the open injury.

After the medical care, his doctor retreated, skittering across the levelled base, only stopping to look back and meet the now standing General RAAM's golden eyes with grass green ones.


	2. Decide

A sigh graced the air as the human stared absent mindedly at the ceiling of the new base, eyes glazed over and body limp. They had no energy, sprawled across the mattress and above the covers, even with the biting chill nipping at any exposed skin they possessed.

Their mind floated in a sea of uncertainty about that raid a few weeks ago. RAAM, Harper, the hammer of dawn strikes and his own survival confused him.

First bullet point - RAAM. Why had he chosen to attack only Dakota, setting his body guards to taunt the boy, but not kill him? Did he want to personally kill Dakota himself? But his actions after a blotched dawn strike rocked that little theory right off its high horse. The General had allowed the puny human to touch him with no consequences other than a chilling golden gaze.

The male subconsciously shivered as he reminisced that stare, gulping at the effect the memory had. He sat up, drawing numb appendages to his core and cuddling his knees like a child. RAAM would kill him at the first instance. How could Dakota think that helping the Locust would mean it wouldn't murder him?

***

"General, you seem troubled. Is something clouding your drive to destroy humanity?"

Smooth, spiced with an exotic accent, her voice always put her subjects at ease, massaging mental knots from tense minds.

The towering Locust shook his head once, answering the question with a lie. She was observant, tilting her head to the side.

"General. It's that human boy isn't it?"

He twisted his head to meet the surveying blue eyes of his Queen, keeping his silence. The Queen awaited an answer from her champion, though she could theorise that the actions of the human had caused RAAM to rethink what he wanted to do with him.

The Queen had seen all of the moments when RAAM faced the two brats. She had witnessed the bloodthirsty and vengeful female attempt to kill her General many times, stopped only by the male.

This male had used skill, wits and the terrain to evade detection, capture and death. He seemed more inclined to make sure the often reckless female survived than taking risks to get revenge himself. Revenge didn't suit his character. What did blend in with him was compassion. 

Through RAAM, Queen Myrrah knew their names. Her intuition told her that RAAM knew it too. Harper - the female human, a brat - and Dakota - the male human, a conundrum. He had every reason to hate the Locust Horde but he would not kill one unless it was was absolutely necessary, unlike the female.

In fact, the Queen could contribute only two deaths to the male, and both were not in self defense. Myrrah had knowledge of this because she had observed their deaths through their eyes. In each instance, they had been fatally injured, but a long way from death. Dakota had ended their lives quickly with a merciful bullet between their eyes.

"I know of his name, General. You do too. His name. What is it?"

" _Dakota_."

"What is he?"

" _Ground walker_."

"What is he to you?"

The slithering hiss of his voice didn't snake out again, jagged teeth locked over his top jaw. Being a General, RAAM could not show any sort of weakness to the enemy, the Queen or his army.

Her face softened ever so slightly.

"It will be a shame to kill one so kind. Do what you wish with him. Kill him, leave him or kidnap him. It is your choice. In regard to his unique attitude, I wouldn't mind if he one day graced my presence."

***

He grunted as he was knocked to the ground, Cole's foot slamming onto his chest.

"Bang, you're dead. Come 'n Rookie. Ya were dodging me attacks yesterday!"

The black man, bald with a heavy build, offered his free hand to lift his smaller melee partner. As he used little effort to pull Dakota to his feet, Cole marvelled at his weight, even with COG armour adding to it. The boy didn't weigh a lot, didn't have the body builder frame of most Gears. He was made for speed, with legs designed to keep a decent speed for a long time. Those allegedly thin legs had a strong kick to them, if the fact that a 7 foot Kantus could be downed with a strike to its unarmoured knee was any indication.

Augustus inwardly chuckled as he remembered that particular kick. The Kantus had been so distracted by Marcus that it hadn't noticed the boy. The boy used the element of surprise to down the Locust and push it back into the E-hole the grub crawled from.

It confused him why the boy wouldn't kill a Locust, except from that slowly dying Boomer, which was going to die either way. Harper had no trouble shooting the grubs. She had a deep seated hate of the towering grub, General RAAM. Something to do with a death.

"Sorry, Cole Train. I'm just... preoccupied."

The man still had yet to figure out what strained his voice with such a drip of something hidden that it riddled the smooth flow.

From a distance, Marcus watched the two settle back into the drill. Cole's smack with the Lancer barrel to the boy's cheek must have shaken him from his thinking because he was more engaged. Twists and bends of his back allowed him to avoid the sweeping arcs of the gun. Easing Cole into a more relaxed state, dropping his guard the slightest bit, Dakota struck, the stock of his Hammerburst hitting the older male in the chin. Using the split second the Gear was dazed, the junior plunged to the ground and swiped both legs at one of Cole's. Without a support, the entire train derailed.

"Woooo! That's what I'm talkin' about baby!"

The dark man whooped, rolling and kneeling on the ground. If he was a Locust, any other Gear would have ended the fight there. He knew from experience that the teenager wouldn't kill a blasted grub. His not-killing BS would be his death, especially if RAAM got a hold of him.

Speaking of RAAM getting a hold on him, Marcus had been informed by Dom that the bruises from the very close encounter hadn't faded, an angry purple printed on his pale neck. However, to hide them, cream the same colour as his skin was used. If not for Dom managing to find out, the crafty little son of a gun would have remained unnoticed.

From what could be told, the female teenager did not have the same sly tricks, or, if she did, she didn't show them. Or use them.

***

"Move, Delta!"

Marcus ordered, sliding expertly into cover as a boomshot grenade sailed past his head. It contacted a sandbag barricade, exploding and ripping the bags, spraying choking sand like a cloud of gas.

Dominic held the smaller boy, breathing a sigh of relief that he hadn't missed his arm. Dakota shifted his position sporadically and so it was a hit or miss situation, literally.

"Are you alright?"

"Just shaken. Thanks for the helping hand."

"No problem. Here. I've been thinking about RAAM and figured it would be best for you to wear this helmet. If he can't find you, he can't hunt you down."

The boy held the helmet, looking at it with a frown.

"But snipers-"

"That's why you're going back to Colonel Hoffman. They need a sniper down there and you're a good shot."

"They'll w-"

"Reavers!"

Baird yelled, firing at an incoming beast. It landed and the riders aimed at Baird's cover. He rolled away from the blast, firing away when he had suitable cover.

Dom gave Dakota a push, standing with the smaller male.

"Run. I'll cover you. Stick that helmet on the first chance you get. Go!"

Gaining the attention of the second Reaver, Dom kept any Locust off the boy as he ran, feet pounding against the floor and guns clinking against his armour. The helmet slipped on, a bit loose. Losing his peripheral vision, he had to rely on Dom and the rest of Delta Squad to cover him, and to keep Harper safe.

Racing through a building, he was on edge from the tranquillity of this side of the structure. It was a portal to clear skies, no threats and no gun shots. That was the weirdest part, the silence. Chills ran down his spine, weaving unpredictable patterns through his vertebrae.

It may have been a cliche thing to say, but it was too quiet. Unhooking his Lancer from the gun holder at his back - you could say his guns have his back - the human cautiously walked forward, aware of the lack of cover for him and the limited sight from his newly acquired helmet. Each step was measured, careful, planned.

The sapien's way of stepping across the exposed land was similar to the human the Locust was hunting down. Cautious, always checking for traps or ambushes. He surveyed the small human, deciding that interrogating them as to the whereabouts of 'Dakota' would push along his search some. His prey was hard to find, let alone catch.

The screech of a reaver and it pouncing on the ground in front of him caused the human to back up quite a few steps. However, it wasn't the beast which worried him. The golden eyes of the lone rider pierced through the eye lenses in the helmet, burrowing fear deep into his soul.

"RAAM..."

He whispered to the air, gulping as the Locust dismounted his ride, dismissing it until further notice. Black, intricate armour glimmered in the sun light, the notches and nicks in the armour creating a speckled effect which rippled with any movement the grub proceeded to do.

RAAM was easily head and chest over Dakota and a lot bulkier. One hit from him could be fatal to the human.

" _Sapien... where is Dakota_?"

Shock lanced through his body to stab him in the heart, pumping harder to deal with the pressure. Each powerful beat resonated within his ear, thundering blood through his blood vessels. To keep up with the sudden demand, his diaphragm increased its movements, grappling with changing the air pressure of the lungs to draw in air or exhale air.

Impending doom confidently approached the human. The human took shaky steps back, but didn't fire the loaded weapon clutched in his shuddering hands. He seemed more inclined to run rather than fight.

" _Weak_."

Dakota had been preoccupied by not backing himself in a corner, he hadn't perceived how close the Locust was, nor the lightening fast punch to the side of his face. With how light he was, even decked out in full armour, the force easily hurling the boy a few metres away while he was airborne, and then a few more metres as he clattered across the floor.

Dazed, the teenager stumbled awkwardly to his feet, groaning from the flaming pain on his face. That would bruise too, another bruise to hide. Cracks distorted the smoothness of the helmet, having broken under the fist.

Dakota looked up to the General, holding the cold gaze of the creature as he was cornered against the wall. This was it. With his vision still swimming, the boy had no trust worthy picture to plan a way of escape.

His left leg quivered, threatening to buckle. Even with his care of the leg, the skid across the ground had injured it. Pangs of dull pain whispered up his spinal cord as he slowly slumped to his knees, closing his eyes for a second.

" _Where is Dakota_?"

His rasp came from right in front of the boy, opening his eyes. Large, talon-tipped fingers clasped the damaged helmet, crushing the helmet to reveal the face of the human beneath it.

The giant hand remained near his head as RAAM waited for his prey to look him in the eye. Green eyes gradually held the stare of his golden ones, brimming with human emotions.

Descending upon the human's shoulder and neck, the unusual slick feeling on the side confused the Locust. Pulling away, he noticed a pale cream on his finger tips. This made him curious, the General wiping all of the cream from the wincing human.

They were still there. The bruises RAAM caused with his hand during a raid on a COG base.

This time, there was no female human to distract the Locust from finishing the downed boy, but he didn't.

" _Dakota_."

The sapien swallowed, loud enough for RAAM to hear him. Now, was it trepidation which caused this reaction?

"R-RAAM."

He acknowledged the greeting with a blink before the General stood to his full height, turning on his heel to walk away. RAAM needed more time to decide what he would do with the human.

Dakota needed more time to decide what he would do with the General.


End file.
